The Lakers and Knicks may have missed the playoffs, but they remained among the five biggest draws for the national networks during the 2013-14 NBA season.
Nationally televised Lakers games averaged approximately 2.4 million viewers on ESPN, ABC and TNT during the 2013-14 season, down 27% from last year (3.3M), but the second-highest average in the league. Knicks games averaged 2.2 million, down 12% from last year (2.4M), but the fifth-highest average.
The Heat were the top draw on national TV, as their games averaged 3.1 million viewers — up from 5% from last year, when ESPN added a handful of low-profile games due to the team’s 27-game winning streak (2.9M). Joining the Heat, Lakers and Knicks in the top five were the Thunder (2.3M, -17%) and Bulls (2.2M, +4%). Those five were the only NBA teams whose games outperformed the national average (2.0M).
The Pelicans averaged the smallest national TV audience of any team, as their three appearances on ESPN averaged just 1.1 million viewers. The Suns (1.2M, 4 games), Jazz (1.2M, 3 games), Nuggets (1.2M, 13 games) and Hawks (1.2M, 2 games) made up the rest of the bottom five.
The top game of the regular season was Heat/Lakers on Christmas Day, which earned 7.8 million viewers on ABC. Thunder/Knicks earlier in the day ranked second (5.5M), followed by Bulls/Heat on Opening Night (5.4M), Lakers/Knicks on January 26 (4.4M) and Lakers/Clippers on April 6 (4.0M**). The Heat played in 11 of the top 20 games.
The least-viewed game of the season was Nuggets/Grizzlies on ESPN April 4 (800K). The rest of the bottom five included Hawks/Blazers on March 5 (890K), Nets/Knicks on Martin Luther King Day (986K), Mavericks/Nuggets on March 5 (996K) and Jazz/Spurs on January 15 (996K), all on ESPN.
Viewership for each game of the NBA season is on page two of this post.
Most-Viewed NBA Teams on National TV, 2013-14 Season
** The 4.0 million viewers for Lakers/Clippers on April 6 may be erroneous. Lakers/Clippers and Knicks/Heat earlier in the day (both ABC) each drew a 2.0 rating. According to Nielsen, however, Lakers/Clippers drew nearly one million more viewers. It is unusual to see that kind of viewership gap between two similar events with the same rating.
